Interview
NEW SPAIN
The view down to the
bay – a killer’s
playground, again for
Assassin’s Creed IV:
Black Flag.URBAN CHOPS
Donglu experimented
with a restricted palette
for her personal series
entitled Edge.(2013). The latter is one of Donglu’s
favourites and took the dark intrigue of
the series to a whole new level with an
18th century setting and colonialism
and piracy as key themes. However,
her portfolio isn’t solely historical, and
she was a driving force on cyberpunk-
themed Deus Ex: Human Revolution
(2010) with Eidos as well as Far Cry 4
(2014), with its fictionalised
Himalayan setting.
LEARNING THROUGH FRUSTRATION
After Far Cry, she went to Warner
Montreal and later EA, helping them
develop new game ideas which were
interesting but neither project came to
market. A frustrating time for the
artist, but one she learned from.
“I couldn’t release any new
professional artwork in this period,
even though I produced thousands
of pieces, but I learned a lot,” says
Donglu. “Prior to that I mainly worked
on established franchises, but
developing new IPs was a completely
different experience.
“Exploring new visual directions in
the beginning can be lot of fun,” she
continues, “but a new game requires a
whole system and pipeline behind it to
make it work properly, includingI couldn’t release any new artwork in
this period, even though I produced
thousands of pieces, but I learned a lot
WORSHIP
Donglu helped nail down the
setting in Assassin’s Creed
IV: Black Flag with this
colonial church and city
square in Havana.